


Don't Give Up

by mansikka



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 02:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15109697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Alec takes a break from a difficult meeting.





	Don't Give Up

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) this is short, hurried, and, well. Thrown together. But this is also the first thing I've written that isn't for a Bang fic since _that_ thing happened, so, it's a start. 
> 
> We're not done yet. Please keep tweeting, and fighting, and raising awareness of all the good things this show has done for us, and all that we've achieved. I'm so proud to be a part of the Shadowhunters fandom right now I could cry. In fact, I have, multiple times :)
> 
> This cast, crew, and fandom make Shadowhunters worth fighting for. Please don't give up.
> 
> #SaveShadowhunters

He just needs a minute. A moment for himself away from the anger and tension that is so thick in the air of the Downworlder Cabinet meeting this afternoon, that it's making it hard to breathe. Alec stands on the roof of the Institute looking at the sun glinting off the buildings around him and forces breath through his lungs, telling himself not to give into his own temper.

They've been fighting over the same point for almost four weeks now. Four long, arduous weeks, where everyone has been shouting loud and hard, and Alec has done his best not to take sides. Publicly, at least, because when he is alone with Magnus all his anger and frustration at the Clave's choices come tumbling out unchecked. And rightly so; this decision they have made to effectively exclude all Downworlders from the decision-making process about laws that will impact them hardest is one of the most ridiculous ones he has had to deal with since becoming Head of the Institute.

Today's meeting is not the typical Cabinet meeting where it is just leaders of the various clans, packs, and representatives of the seelies demanding his attention. Instead, the room is packed, with warlocks, werewolves, seelies, and vampires brought here either by other Downworlders in vehicles shielded from sunlight, or portals. All talking over one another at once in an attempt to be heard. And in amongst them all are Shadowhunters, the majority of which are on the side of the Downworlders, with a few stray voices still attempting to find logic and reasoning in the Clave's current plans that are continually being shouted down.

There are far too many voices in favor of overturning the decision for this legislation to come into force in its current iteration, Alec knows that, recognizes the ways the Clave is slowly backing down on it from the previous oppositions he has helped lead. But that doesn't mean they don't have a fight on their hands, that they can give up or stop pressing for amendments that will afford the Downworlders the same freedoms that they have had before. More of them, in fact, Alec thinks, closing his eyes to the reminder of some of the suggestions that he's heard already that are outlandish and don't ever have a hope of being agreed to, yet understanding at the same time why so many are arguing for them anyway.

"I thought I'd find you up here."

Alec sags forward at the sound of Magnus' voice, unsurprised neither that he's sought him out nor that just hearing him has removed some of the tension from his spine. He leans in to the hand that's pressed inquisitively on his shoulder knowing Magnus is gauging his mood before adding anything else.

"I just needed some air," he says as he turns, smiling away Magnus' look of concern.

"I don't blame you," Magnus replies, pressing his hands into his sides and stepping closer. "That cologne of Raphael's is… pungent. Even for him. I could barely breathe."

Alec smiles again at Magnus' attempt to lift his mood and raises his hands up to cup his face, leaning in for a kiss.

"Yeah."

"I know it's frustrating," Magnus adds as he leans against him and loops his arms around his back. "Everyone talking over everybody else, and demanding answers you can't yet give them."

"It's nothing new," Alec says, because it isn't, not really. It isn't like there haven't been so many other fights like this that he's had to either referee or grit his teeth through for being the target of everyone's anger. Today just seems louder, and harder to deal with because they've been arguing about this for so _long_.

"You said it yourself. The Clave will need to listen eventually, Alexander. It's just a question of persevering, and putting on _that_ smile."

"What smile?" Alec asks in mock-indignance, even as Magnus begins to sway him in his arms.

" _That_ smile," Magnus replies, pulling a face that's supposed to be an imitation of Alec's and just leaves him laughing, and pulling Magnus a little tighter against him.

"I don't know—"

"The one you use when you're placating people you secretly think are idiotic yet feel the need to be diplomatic with. Like when Clary accidentally blasted that hole in the wall of her room experimenting with new runes."

"That was… quite the blast," Alec says, thinking of the way the entire building had seemed to shake from the force of it. And how guilty Clary had looked when everyone had come running to her room.

"Oh, it was," Magnus agrees, smiling in memory. "For a moment there, I thought she had actually compromised the structure."

"Luckily we had you here to help us out," Alec replies, his own memories going to the lunch Clary's explosion had interrupted, which was the real reason for that so-called diplomatic smile.

"Incredibly," Magnus agrees, and there is amusement in his eyes that speaks of sharing certain aspects of that memory, that Alec suspects are of how quickly they had both got dressed. Resulting in swapped shirts and magicked sleeves and discreet one-overs to check they both looked decent enough for others to see them.

"No different from the smile you always turn on _Jace_ when you think he's done something stupid," Alec points out, ducking to kiss him again.

"Oh, Jace is quite aware of when I think he is being stupid, smile or no smile."

"Yeah," Alec says with a huff of laughter for remembering the two times Jace actually _complained_ to him about it before giving up on thinking he'd have a sympathetic, unbiased ear.

Magnus smiles at him again then, and for a few minutes they need nothing more than this, holding on to one another on the roof of the Institute in the warm afternoon sun. Alec could forget everything and everyone else quite happily, just for a moment longer, just to be here with Magnus. In fact, his mind is already planning ahead to the end of all this _debating_  they're doing, when they can take a few days away from here and really be alone.

"When this is over, and before you and I disappear," Magnus adds, raising an eyebrow that suggests he knows exactly what Alec is thinking, "I am throwing us a party."

"Where?"

"Pandemonium? The Hunters Moon? Home?" Magnus suggests with a shrug of his shoulders. "Something to celebrate our success."

"Might be a while," Alec replies, sagging a little in frustration, feeling his mood dip again. "The Clave isn't going to give in to all these demands from today. Not all of them, anyway. Some I can reword better so they don't sound so… well. So it sounds less like the Downworlders are gaining and more like the Clave isn't losing anything."

"Diplomatic, as always," Magnus replies, leaning in for a kiss.

"Yeah."

"However long it takes, and whatever we have to do to get there, we'll do it. All of us. Together," Magnus tells him, and Alec allows himself to lean on Magnus' confidence, take comfort from his unwavering support in all that is going on.

"We will."

"Don't give up," Magnus adds softly as he raises his hand, circling his thumb behind his ear as he cradles his head.

Alec raises his hand to cover Magnus', splaying his other wide on his lower back, and shakes his head with a smile as he leans in to kiss him. "I won't."


End file.
